


I'll Paint us a Kingdom

by how_about_no



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Artist Zayn, Fluff, High School, M/M, Mostly on Niall's part, Nervous Niall, Niall Horan & Liam Payne Friendship, No Homo, POV Zayn, Smitten Louis, Zayn Malik & Louis Tomlinson Friendship, all on Niall's part, like really smitten, to the level of obsession, who am I kidding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 16:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4883680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/how_about_no/pseuds/how_about_no
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Nice shot, Horan!” Zayn peers his head up when he hears Louis shout down on the field. With a glance at the boy in question, he quirks a smile and looks back down at the paper. He adds some shading to the right arm of the figure forming on the page. This has sort of become a routine, coming to the bleachers every Wednesday and Friday after school and watching the footie team practise while drawing his favourite player.</p><p>or</p><p>The one where Zayn pines and sketches, Niall trips over his words and talks about sports, Louis waxes poetic about Harry every other sentence, Harry has dimples and sweets, and Liam just wonders when he became the novelty straight person in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Think I'm Gunna Lose My Mind

“Nice shot, Horan!” Zayn peers his head up when he hears Louis shout down on the field. With a glance at the boy in question, he quirks a smile and looks back down at the paper. He adds some shading to the right arm of the figure forming on the page. This has sort of become a routine, coming to the bleachers every Wednesday and Friday after school and watching the footie team practise while drawing his favourite player. He looks up again and sees Niall running across the grass with a shit eating grin, the kind that makes you want to smile too.

That’s one thing Zayn has never been able to get right. The smile. It’s going better today but Zayn is just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

There it is. The shading goes a bit off on the right of Niall’s smirk and Zayn officially gives up on life. You’d think after months of practise he would be able to get it right. He huffs as Louis calls out that the boys can go get changed. Zayn rips the piece out of his book and places it on top of his bag.

“Zayn!” Louis shouts, “I’ll be out in ten, yeah?” Zayn just sticks up a thumb in response before shoving his book in his bag and hopping down the bleachers to wait for Louis.

“Alright?” A very distinctive Irish accent says as a figure passes him. Zayn can only let out a grunt in response when he looks at the boy and sees bright blue eyes, shocking blond hair and a cheeky smile. Niall just laughs and continues on his way towards where Zayn came from. He can’t help but glance over his shoulder to see Niall saunter away. True beauty.

It’s just under ten minutes before Louis skips out onto the field with a huge smile on his face and his bag on one shoulder.

“Good practise?” Zayn raises an eyebrow at Louis’ gleeful expression as they walk toward the car park.

“The best,” Louis breathes, “Harry’s hair looks so good in those headbands and his _thighs,”_ He lets out a sigh, “I just wanna give them butterfly kisses and eat him out ‘til he cries.”

“Right,” Zayn chuckles, “That’s a little bit too much information but I’ll take it.”

“Do you know what he said to me?” Louis says, completely ignoring Zayn’s comment, “He said ‘I think I’m made for goal. I’m really good with my hands’ then had the _audacity_ to wink at me!”

“Who does he think he is?” Zayn mocks.

“I know, right?” Louis runs his hand through his damp hair, “He fucks with my head, man. I mean, I want to fuck him into next week, but I also want to cuddle him and make him breakfast, you know?”

“I know.” Zayn nods, thinking about Niall’s laugh and smile and general aura of being literal sunshine.

“Of course you know, you’re completely head over heels for Niall.”

“What?” Zayn splutters.

“Oh, Zaynie,” Louis pats him on the shoulder, “Do you really think I’m that oblivious, dear? You’ve been pining after that boy for just under a year.”

“I wouldn’t call it _pining._ ” Zayn mutters.

“No?” Louis laughs, “Well every other human being with eyes would, my boy. You’re not exactly subtle.”

“I don’t even talk to him! I don’t have a chance to be ‘not subtle.’”

“I think everyone knows you don’t really come to practise for me, babe.” Louis waggles his eyebrows.

“Shut up.”

“Also, I bet that little book of yours is filled with detailed sketches of his arse.” Louis shoves at his shoulder.

“You’re such a dick.” Zayn shoves him back but can’t help the small smile that graces his lips.

“There it is!” Louis pokes at his cheek, “There’s that smitten little smile! You could’ve just told me, you know. No judgement here.” They stop at Zayn’s car and he unlocks it with a roll of his eyes.

“I didn’t think you’d judge me,” He pauses while they both climb in the car, “I _knew_ that you’d mock me.”

“I would never-” Louis protests but stops when Zayn stares at him blankly, “Okay, yeah I would. But only gentle mocking.”

“Right.” Zayn states sceptically, starting the car and pulling out of the school lot.

“Like a little poke to the side?”

“Mhm.”

“Maybe a caress to the cheek or something.”

“What are you even talking about anymore?”

“I’ve got it!” Louis clicks his fingers, “Like a wet willy, but mocking.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“ _You_ don’t make sense.”

Zayn loves him.

 

Being alone helps Zayn think. He likes to just sit and take in his surroundings rather than have to focus on _socialisation._ That’s why when, at lunch the next day, someone sits down opposite him he automatically lets out a sigh. It can’t be Louis because they have an agreement that Zayn gets lunch alone to just unwind and eat in peace. As much as he loves him, sometimes Zayn needs time to himself.

“So,” The person starts and Zayn’s eyes widen where they’re staring intently at his book, “You left something at the bleachers yesterday.”

“I did?” Zayn looks up and tries to prepare himself for eye contact. It still hurts. _Are his eyes always this blue?_

“Yeah,” Niall smiles and Zayn can’t help but smiles slightly back, “It’s really good.” He slides a peace of paper across the table and his smile widens.

It’s the picture he drew of Niall yesterday.

_Shit._

“Oh!” Zayn says, probably louder than necessary, “Um, yeah- I- that’s, um. I draw the whole football team. Gotta do something while I wait for Louis, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Something flickers across Niall’s face before it’s gone again, “Of course. Can I see the rest?”

“Um,” Zayn has a project for tonight, “Sure?”

“Awesome!” Niall stands again with his grin back on full force, “Bring them in tomorrow and I’ll be like your own little critic.”

“Cool.” Is all Zayn can manage to get out, but it doesn’t seem like he needs to say much for Niall to continue.

“Well, not really a critic,” Niall runs a hand through his hair, “More of a friendly commentator because your art’s really good! I’ll just give you compliments and stuff. Boost your ego, you know?” Zayn feels himself smile wider as Niall rambles on, “My ma used to be good at art. She’d paint trees and stuff but they were never as detailed as yours. Not that I think that’s a tree! It’s obviously me. It is me, right?” He relaxes slightly at Zayn’s nod, “I mean, I’m impressed. You’re really talented.” He bumps into someone as he starts to back away and mutters a sorry before turning back to Zayn with a hesitant smile.

“Thanks. It means a lot.” Zayn looks up at him through his eyelashes and tries not to look too flustered.

“Mhm,” Niall nods, “No problem at all, mate. See you tomorrow!” Niall quickly walks away and back to his table where Louis is also seated.

Louis looks at Zayn with raised eyebrows and he just shrugs in response with a shake of his head. Louis narrows his eyes and Zayn smirks, going back to his book with a rapidly beating heart and butterflies in his stomach.

 

“It’s like there’s no one else in the room when he’s there, you know?”

“Mhm.” Zayn mutters in reply, only half listening to Louis’ rant about Harry. It’s not that he doesn’t care, it’s more that he’s heard it all before. Plus he’s concentrating on something else. As he told Niall he draws the whole football team, he needs to rush some sketches to show him tomorrow otherwise his lying arse will be revealed and Niall will know he’s a creepy stalker. So Zayn is currently trying to quickly sketch Louis where he’s sprawled on his bed with a dreamy look in his eyes. He has most of it done so maybe he will be able to get most of the team done by-

“Zayn?” Louis’ shout breaks into his inner monologue, “Are you even listening to me? This is important.”

“Yeah, sure.” Zayn doesn’t bother looking up from his notepad.

“What are you doing?” Zayn doesn’t have time to react before Louis is snatching the notebook out of his hand and jumping back onto the bed and out of Zayn’s reach from his chair.

“Louis!”

“Aw, Zaynie,” Louis coos, “You’re drawing your beloved,” He lies on his back with a contemplative expression, “It’s really good. Why do you have to be so talented? Absolutely unfair.”

“Louis.” Zayn doesn’t know why he bothers.

“Why are you drawing me?” Louis sits up again, brandishing the picture like it’s crucial evidence in the case going on in his head, “You never randomly draw me.”

“No reason.” Zayn finally gets up and grabs the book back with a frown, “Just felt like it.”

“You’re a shit liar.” Louis narrows his eyes.

“You’re just a shit.” Zayn tries to go back to his drawing, hoping Louis will drop the subject.

“Don’t think you’re getting away with that, my boy,” Louis spins Zayn’s chair so it’s facing him and puts his hands on the armrests, effectively stopping Zayn from being able to escape. Zayn quirks an eyebrow, the only act of defiance he can manage in the position, “What’s with the drawing?”

“I’ll never tell!” Zayn yells.

“Don’t make me go bad cop on you!” Louis starts to smile and Zayn can feel victory around the corner.

“You’ll never take me alive!” He shouts in an overly dramatic New Yorker accent. Louis laughs and spins the chair from side to side.

“You’re no good to me dead.” Louis contorts his face into what Zayn thinks is an attempt of a smoulder.

“I’ll take this secret to my grave.” Zayn says as menacingly as he can, even throwing in a snarl.

“Seriously though,” Louis lets go of the arms in favour of dropping into Zayn’s lap, “You’re hiding something.”

“You’re not going to quit are you?” Zayn sighs.

“Never.” Louis smirks, knowing he has won this time. The fucker.

“It’s Niall.”

“Yeah, and?” Louis’ eyes bore into his and Zayn has to break eye contact.

“He might have found one of my drawings of him on the bleachers yesterday and I had to say I drew the rest of the team so I didn’t sound like a stalker and now I have to draw the rest of the team to keep up with the lie.” Zayn says quickly in one breath.

“Wow.” Louis swings an arm over Zayn’s shoulder, “You’re fucked.”

“Tell me about it.” Zayn lets his head fall back.

“Hang on,” Louis jumps back to his feet and scurries over to the bed and belly flops on it before rolling onto his side and resting his head in one hand while putting the other on his hip, “Paint me like one of your French girls.” He smirks.

“You’ve been wanting to do that for ages, haven’t you?” Zayn laughs, picking his pencil back up.

“You have _no_ idea.” Louis groans as he rolls onto his back.

 

“If I die, play something good at my funeral.” Zayn says as he and Louis walk through the front doors of school the next morning.

“No worries,” Louis pats his back, “I already have the playlist on my iPod.”

“Good,” Zayn nods then stops, “Wait, what?”

“Forget I said anything!” Louis shouts over his shoulder from a few feet ahead.

“Louis!” Zayn hurries to catch up with him, shaking his head.

“Have you got the drawings?” Louis raises his eyebrows and presses his lips together.

“In my bag, yeah.” Zayn runs a nervous hand through his hair, “This is gunna be awful. It’s so obvious they’re rushed.”

“Proposterous!” Louis yells, “You’re an artiste, Zayn,” He does a ridiculous French accent and puts two fingers to his thumb in a weird gesture, “Your talents are unopposed.”

“You’re such a fucking dork.” Zayn raises an eyebrow at the shorter boy who simply snorts and looks ahead of them again.

“You love it.”

“Debatable.” Zayn mumbles, mind elsewhere.

“What do you think Harry is wearing today?” Louis bites his lip, as if holding back a smile at just the thought of the older boy’s ability to wear clothes.

“Maybe his uniform?” Zayn raises an eyebrow, “We live in England, it’s kind of compulsory.”

“But Zayn, you don’t understand,” Louis puts a hand on his shoulder and gestures in front of them like showing him a glorious picture, “He does it differently. It’s like a new style every day. Is he wearing a headband? A necklace? Maybe he has a manbun? What about some cheeky black skinny jeans instead of those rubbish slacks? Who knows, Zayn? Who knows. That’s the magic,” He lets go of Zayn’s shoulder with a gentle tap, “That’s the Harry way.”

“You know what I think?” Zayn mimics Louis’ action, “I don’t give a motherfuck.”

“You’re an arse hole.” Louis bats Zayn’s hand off with a scowl, but Zayn can tell he doesn’t really care.

“You lamenting about Harry is getting old fast. When are you going to get your shit together so you can just talk to _each other_ about how perfect he is?”

“I could say the same about you and Niall.” Louis tries to deflect but Zayn sees the blush forming on his cheeks. He _sees_ it.

“We spoke for the first time yesterday.” Zayn replies calmly, smiling in satisfaction when Louis’ blush gets deeper.

“That’s not the point!” Louis squawks, his hand flying out and hitting some poor, innocent year seven that walks past.

“Then what _is_ the point?” Zayn raises his eyebrows.

“Is that the bell I hear?” Louis starts backing away, cupping a hand over his ear.

“The bell doesn’t go for another 10 minutes.” Zayn smirks.

“Shut up!” Louis turns and speed walks away, leaving Zayn to remember who he’s going to have to talk to today.

“Well, _shit._ ”

 

When Zayn walks into the lunch room at 12:35 he’s pretty sure he’s having some sort of mini heart attack. This was a mistake. He should turn around, pretend he projectile vomited and had to go home, maybe he could say he had a stroke. But then Louis is waving him over to the table where he, Niall, Liam and Harry are sat and it’s too late.

“Hello, stranger,” Louis smirks at him, “Take a seat, dear.” He gestures to the empty seat beside Niall and looks all too satisfied by how much Zayn shakes as he takes it.

“Hey, Zayn.” Niall smiles easily at him and Zayn relaxes and tenses at the same time. He shouldn’t be worried, Niall is a nice guy. Yet he still can’t help but feel like his heart is going to jump out of his throat when he replies.

“Hey.”

“So _you’re_ the famous Zayn we keep hearing about it.” Harry smiles at him from his place next to Louis and _wow_ his dimples really are as deep as craters on the moon.

“Been talking about me, babe?” Zayn smirks at Louis who narrows his eyes. This is comfortable territory, teasing Louis. He can deal with this.

“Only _all the time,”_ Harry rolls his eyes, “You’d think you guys were together.”

“You’re not, are you?” Niall suddenly interrupts with a frown, which is an unfamiliar expression on the boy’s face. Zayn can’t help but think it’s a little cute.

“Nah, I’m way too good for him.” Zayn lifts his chin up as Louis squeaks in protest.

“No you are _not!_ ” Louis insists, “Just because you have incredible bone structure does not mean you are out of my league.”

“It kinda does,” Niall tilts his head in thought, “I’d rather do Zayn.”

“Would you now?” Louis doesn’t bother looking at the boy, instead giving Zayn a look that says _‘are you hearing what I’m hearing?’._

“Um,” Niall coughs, “I- uh- What’re the plans for tonight’s footie practise, Louis?” Niall changes the subject completely and Louis looks exceptionally smug.

The conversation flows lightly after that and Zayn mostly stays out of it. He tunes in whenever they’re talking about something other than sports, which isn’t often. It seems whenever the subject turns away from physical exercise, Niall quickly turns it back with an overly loud statement. Obviously it isn’t a normal thing as the rest of the boys look just as confused as Zayn whenever it happens but go along with it anyway. By the fifth time, Harry decides to take the plunge.

“Niall, are you alright, mate?” He asks with a concerned frown. If he and Louis think they don’t notice that they’re playing footsie under the table at this point, they are very wrong.

“Hm?” Niall sounds like he has been snapped out of a daydream, “Yeah, ‘course. Hey Zayn, can I see those drawings now?”

“Um, sure.” Zayn’s going to get whiplash soon from all the sudden subject changes, but moves to get his book out of his bag anyway.

“Wow,” Niall’s eyes widen as he flips through it, “These are amazing.”

“It’s really nothing.” Zayn tries to brush it off but Niall is having none of it.

“No, really,” He turns the book so the rest of the boys can see it, “He’s fucking amazing, isn’t he? Could be a professional or summet.”

“These are really good.” Liam agrees from Niall’s other side.

“A real _artiste_.” Harry does the same gesture Louis did earlier and the boy in question looks unbearably fond as he ruffles Harry’s curls.

“Honestly,” Zayn takes his book back and stuffs it in his bag before anyone can complement him anymore, his cheeks are too red already, “It’s not that impressive.”

“You shut your mouth,” Niall says with surprising conviction, “You’re incredibly talented, Zayn. You should be proud of that.”

“You’re so adorable when you’re cooing over people.” Liam smiles at the blond boy, only slightly teasingly.

“Shut the fuck up you little bastard.” Niall smacks him upside the head but he’s laughing. The conversation starts up again and Niall turns to Zayn with a light in his eyes.

“You’re really good,” He smiles slightly and leans closer, “Could I keep that one I found? I know I gave it back and stuff but it’d be really cool to have some art of myself,” He shrugs and rubs the back of his neck, “’S’not often you get people doing amazing drawings of you, you know?”

“Yeah,” Zayn tries not to blush or stutter, “Sure you can. I have lo-” _loads of you at home,_ probably not the best thing to say when you don’t want to sound like a stalker, Zayn, “No problem with that at all.” He saves with a wince.

“Awesome,” Niall doesn’t seem to notice as he smiles brightly, “Thanks.” Zayn pulls out the book again and takes the folded picture out of the back of it and passes it to Niall. Their fingers brush and Zayn takes in a quick breath.

Niall is still smiling at him and Zayn is still smiling at Niall but the moment is broken when Harry lets out a bark of a laugh and slaps a hand over his mouth.

“What on earth was _that?_ ” Louis teases and eventually all of them burst into giggles at Harry’s ridiculous outburst. Zayn can’t help but feel slightly at home with these boys sat around him, especially with the warmth at his side, smiling like the God damn sun.

 

Niall catches up with him just as they’ve left the lunch room, sounding out of breath but still smiling.

“You’re coming to football practise today, right? It’s usually just us four that go for the extra practise.” Niall informs him like Zayn doesn’t already know.

“I’ll be in the bleachers like always.” Zayn tries to get away before he can embarrass himself but Niall places a gentle hand on his arm that immediately stops him.

“No,” He huffs a small laugh and looks to the ceiling, “I meant you could sit to the side of the field?” He looks back down at Zayn and shrugs, hand still on Zayn’s bicep, “You could join in a little?”

“Sport and I don’t mix,” Niall’s face falls so Zayn quickly continues, “But I’ll be there to be your guys’ cheerleader.”

“Now, you in a skirt,” Niall laughs, “That is a sight I’d like to see.” He looks almost surprised at the fact that that just came out of his mouth, and Zayn is too. They both just sort of shuffle their feet and look anywhere but at each other for a moment before Niall clears his throat, “Well, I’ll be off to politics. See ya later.” With that he practically runs away and Zayn is left the wonder what the _fuck_ just happened.


	2. Football Teams, Loved More Than Just the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this whole chapter is just them at the football practise soz ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Niall and Liam are already kicking the ball around on the field when Zayn gets outside. It’s pretty chilly out, a layer of mist shrouding the boys’ feet from his view. It doesn’t really matter though because what _is_ in his view is certainly enough. Niall is facing away from him, slightly bent over because he’s in the goal, ready to stop the ball from going in. Now _that_ is an arse made by the Gods.

Liam notices him first and waves him over with a smile. He reminds Zayn of a puppy, like a Labrador or something. As soon as he’s close enough, Niall turns around and immediately brightens, ditching the goal in favour of running over to him and pulling him into a sweaty hug. Not that Zayn is complaining. He smells like boy and faded cologne, his hair brushing Zayn’s cheek because he’s a few inches shorter. Zayn has only just gained the composure to hug back when Niall pulls away again.

“Glad you came, mate,” Niall claps him on the shoulder, “Lou and Haz are still in the locker rooms. I don’t even want to know what they’re doing.”

“Probably staring at each other longingly.” Zayn rolls his eyes and drops his back on the bench next to the field. Niall laughs like Zayn just told the funniest joke he’s ever heard. He’s never really thought of himself as particularly funny.

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Niall raises his eyebrows, “Those two are pining, oblivious and downright adorable.”

“I think that’s the most accurate description I’ve heard for them.” Liam agrees, walking over with a grin, “Good to see you, Zayn.”

“You too.” Zayn nods at him.

“They’re my otp,” Niall looks towards the locker rooms, “I ship it _so fucking hard._ ”

“Me too.” Zayn agrees at the same time Liam says, “Ship it where?”

“Liam,” Niall puts a condescending hand on his shoulder, “Have you ever heard of ‘The Internet’?”

“Yes.” Liam narrows his eyes but doesn’t actually look sure as to whether he’s being mocked or helped.

“Google it.” Niall slaps his cheek before running back onto the field, “Now test my skills! I want to get Harry out of a job!”

“Don’t think you’ll manage that,” Liam gives Zayn a knowing look, “Louis is captain and Harry loves being in goal.”

“Probably because he doesn’t know how to use his legs.” Niall retorts with snort as Liam runs over to him.

“He can walk.” Liam tries to defend with a shrug. He rolls the ball under his foot for a moment before kicking it towards the top right corner of the goal. Niall leaps up and catches it with ease, landing on both feet again with a smirk.

“Barely,” Niall throws the ball back, “He’s like a bloody giraffe.”

“Don’t say that in front of Louis,” Zayn shouts to them, “He’ll beat the shit out of you!”

“Who am I beating the shit out of?” Louis runs up to them with a smile and Harry in tow. The only reply he gets is Liam and Zayn smirking while Niall fish mouths and shuffles his feet, actually looking scared of Louis’ wrath.

“Niall said Manchester United is better than Doncaster Rovers.” Zayn decides to save him with a very spontaneous and immediately regretted wink. He looks away too quickly to notice Niall’s blush.

“You’re asking for a fight there, Nialler.” Louis steps towards him with a glare and even though he’s at least 5 metres away, Niall cowers.

“He’s not worth it,” Harry dramatically spits on the floor, “Manchester United scum.”

“See?” Niall gestures to Harry, his voice at least 2 octaves higher than usual, “I’m totally not worth it.”

“You escaped my wrath this time,” Louis steps forward and Niall steps back again, nearly falling over, “Don’t think you’ll be so lucky again.”

“Duly noted.” Niall nods with a gulp. Zayn shakes his head at the whole encounter but can’t help but feel a little fond too. He appreciated Niall before, but knowing he’s a bubbly and hilarious person makes him all the more lovable. Zayn is fucking screwed.

“Zayn!” Louis turns to him like he’s only just noticed him, which Zayn finds hard to believe, “My love, my life, my heart. So wonderful of you to join us,” He sits down next to him and pulls Zayn into a bone crushing hug, “Isn’t he wonderful, guys? He has great hair, beautiful bone structure, a sexy voice. You should see his abs!”

“Are you advertising me?” Zayn mumbles into his shoulder and Louis just squeezes him tighter.

“Right?” Louis ignore him and continues talking to the rest of the boys.

“Too right,” Harry finally agrees. Of course he’s there to defend Louis, “He sure is a specimen.”

“Yeah,” Liam quietly agrees, probably rubbing a hand over his buzzed head, “I guess so?”

“Niall?” Louis says expectantly and Zayn doesn’t have to see to know he’s raising his eyebrows. He finally releases him and Zayn moves away, rubbing his ribs that have been brutally abused. The redness in his cheeks is absolutely because of the struggle to get away.

“You’re a beautiful man, Zayn.” Niall smiles at him like it’s the easiest thing in the world and Zayn is going to _die._

“Yes he is.” Louis sighs, “Now let’s get jiggy with it!”

“Jiggy with it?” Zayn scoffs, “Are you 70 now?”

“I think it’s a cute word.” The look on Harry’s face when he says it is physically sickening. Zayn sees Niall and Liam share a look that says ‘ _what a pair of goons’._ Personally, Zayn can’t wait for the wedding. Niall will probably be the flower girl.

As soon as he gets onto the field, Louis immediately changes into _Captain Mode._ That’s what Zayn likes to call it when Louis starts acting like a leader and knows what he’s talking about. It’s really a sight to see, everyone seems to have a lot of respect for him, immediately doing what he says and taking his comments seriously. Even Harry seems to stop fonding over him and actually tries to play. His version of trying to play, however, is not falling over. Niall really wasn’t kidding when he said the boy doesn’t know how to use his feet. He misses the ball at least 5 times when he tries to kick it, kicks it way off side to the goal and one time he actually gets Niall in the crotch. Though that may have been on purpose because Niall kept taunting him, maybe he needs specific motivation to have any talent whatsoever.

“Hey guys,” Niall calls out to them after about 20 minutes of practise, “Do I look gay to you?”

“What?” Liam looks like a confused child, looking between all the boys one by one as if checking he’s heard it right. Zayn can’t believe it himself.

“Sweets,” Louis cocks his hip and quirks an eyebrow, “I am the gayest of the gay, and I can tell you for sure that you are one of us.”

“Is it how I dress?” Niall looks down at his shorts and t shirt in disdain.

“Oh hon,” Louis shakes his head condescendingly, “No.”

“So I don’t _look_ gay?”

“Not really,” Harry tilts his head, “You don’t immediately make my gaydar ping.” Niall nods and is silent for a moment before cocking his hip and imitating Louis’ pose.

“What about now?” He raises his eyebrows.

“A little more.” Louis nods in approval. The Irish lad hums in thought and shuffles on his feet, tapping a finger on his chin.

“Got it!” He yells with a click of his fingers before dropping to the floor and moving into a stereotypically feminine sultry pose, “Now?”

“Definitely.” Zayn laughs, not sure where his new confidence has come from. Maybe he can do this socialisation thing with the boys.

“God, you’re such an idiot.” Liam kicks the ball and it hits Niall in the stomach.

“And you’re a twat, apparently.” Niall pushes himself to his feet with a series of hurt groans.

About ten minutes later, Louis decides he and Harry need some one on one practise, so Niall and Liam come sit either side of Zayn on the bench.

“I’m willing to bet Louis just wanted an excuse to stare at Harry.” Zayn finds himself saying with a smirk. He sort of wants to take it back immediately but Liam claps him on the back and laughs so maybe he doesn’t have to.

“I’m not betting against that. Niall?”

“No way,” Niall snorts, “I’ll be surprised if they don’t start snogging on the field.” He picks up a discarded bottle of water from the ground and unscrews it with his teeth. When he chugs down the water, Zayn swallows too, watching the bob of his throat.

“Ready Harry?” His attention is snapped away when he hears Louis shout in front of them. He’s stood in front of the goal with raised eyebrows and a smug smile. Harry’s in goal, bent over with his hands out either side of him, smiling so wide Zayn swears it goes to his ears.

“I was born ready,” Harry shifts his weight from foot to foot, “I’ve got the eye of the tiger. I’m made for this. I’m the last known survivor, stalking my prey in the night. I’m watching you all with the eye of the-”

He’s interrupted by a ball hitting him clean in the face, sending him to the ground arse over tit.

“Oh my god.” Louis runs over to him with a lip between his teeth and Zayn tries very hard not to laugh. Niall doesn’t.

“Fuck, tommo!” Niall laughs, “You trying to kill him?” Feeling almost like he’s got permission, Zayn starts laughing too and soon all of them are in fits of giggles while Harry still looks a bit in shock, going cross-eyed trying to look at the hand covering his nose.

“I am so _so_ sorry, Hazza.” Louis hovers his hands over Harry’s body like he’s trying to decide where he could place them that would be the most comforting. Harry moves his hand away from his face and his eyes widen at whatever he sees.

“Oops.” His hand is covered in blood and Louis looks like he’s about to pass out.

“High kick? Why did I think that was a good idea?” He smacks himself in the forehead and drops to sit in front of Harry, “I’ve made the love of my life bleed. God this is a disaster.”

“Oh my god.” Niall whispers in glee, clutching at Zayn’s arm.

“You’ve made your _what_ bleed?” Harry suddenly doesn’t look all too bothered that he’s still bleeding.

“Um.”

“This is brilliant.” Niall whispers again and Zayn moves his hand over his, trying not to burst into cheers. Or tears.

“I said nothing.” Louis tries and Niall’s grip gets tighter.

“No,” Harry smiles teasingly, “You called me the _love of your life._ ”

“Lies!” Louis jumps to his feet and points at him where he’s still sat on the floor, “Lies and deceit on my team! I won’t have it.” Harry moves to stand up too, covering his nose once more. Even with his hand over his face Zayn can _feel_ the smug smile.

“Louis,” Harry puts his free hand on Louis’ cheek, “Do you really think that?”

“Yes.” Louis scuffs his foot into the grass, barely even whispering the word but Zayn, Niall and Liam are listening so intently that they hear it. They may fall off the bench soon by how far they are leaning off it.

“Sorry?” Harry’s smile is audible as Louis finally looks him in the eye.

“Yeah, I do really think you’re the love of my life.”

Niall squeaks.

“Me too.” Harry giggles.

“Really?” Harry nods, his curls bobbing, “I would _so_ kiss you right now if you weren’t so bloody.”

“Well if _someone_ hadn’t have kicked a ball at my face!”

“Shut up, you love me anyway.” Louis steps closer, taking the boy’s hand off his cheek and entwining their fingers instead.

“Yeah, I do.” Instead of kissing him, Harry just rests their foreheads together and Zayn’s pretty sure he, Liam and Niall are going to need a joint funeral.

“FUCKING FINALLY!” Niall yells, standing up and cheering.


	3. Slumber Party!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> little bit longer than the last chapters :)

“I swear he said it was somewhere round here.” Louis narrows his eyes at their surroundings as if it’s going to help at all.

“Haven’t you been to Niall’s house before?” Zayn had presumed he had considering they seemed a pretty close knit group of friends.

“Nah,” Louis shrugs, “We usually go to Liam or Harry’s because us three live quite close. Niall didn’t want to put us out, but he must’ve felt like being a host,” He throws Zayn a look, “Wonder why.”

“Just admit you’re lost,” Zayn ignores the comment and taps his fingers on the dash of Louis’ old banger. He got it for about £300 second hand and the thing constantly sounds like it’s about to give up on its sad life every 10 seconds, “Call Niall.”

“I’m driving! I can’t use my phone while driving, Zayn, that’s breaking the law.” Louis gapes at him like he suggested murder.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We could crash and _die,_ ” Louis whisper shouts, “Do you want my blood on your hands, Zayn? Do you?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, I’ll call him.” Zayn grabs Louis’ phone from his pocket and types in his password ‘harry’, before pulling up his contacts.

“You do that,” Louis waggles his eyebrows, “Talk to your future lover.”

“Just keep driving round the block until I know where he lives, bastard.”

“Alright,” Louis holds his hands up in mock surrender while somehow keeping them both on the wheel, “No need for the fucking language.”

“ _Hey, Lou! Where abouts are ya?”_ Niall’s voice crackles down the line and Zayn’s throat closes up. He didn’t not think this through.

“Um- uh,” He clears his throat hoping to cough up his cowardice too, “It’s Zayn, actually. Louis is being a pissbaby because he’s driving.”

“ _No surprises there,”_ Zayn can almost hear Niall’s smile, “ _You guys lost or somethin’?”_

“Incredibly,” Zayn looks out the window, “Help.”

“ _No worries, babe,”_ What. “ _I’ll go stand at the bottom of the drive so when you see a guy in a Pikachu onesie you’ll know you’re in the right place. You on Crossways?”_

“Um,” Zayn flounders again and sees Louis raising an eyebrow in the corner of his eye. A door slams down the line, “Yeah I think so, I can see a road sign.”

_“Right, well I’m outside now so just keep driving in circles ‘til you see me.”_

“Sure.” They only have to drive for a moment or two before Louis bursts out laughing.

“Is Niall wearing a _onesie?_ ”

“ _A Pikachu onesie, to be specific,”_ Niall laughs in reply, clearly having heard Louis, “ _Zayn, flick him in the ear for me.”_

“What was that for?” Louis squeaks when Zayn does and he just shrugs in reply. Now would probably be a good time to hang up but Zayn kind of likes having a phone pressed to his ear where he can hear Niall’s breathing and short laughter. They pull over and climb out, both Niall and Zayn still with their phones at their ears.

“We’re here.” Zayn says when he’s stood directly in front of Niall, who looks hilariously adorable. His hair is mussed up like he’d just taken the hood of the onesie down, his smile relaxed and easy. The onesie is zipped up to the very top and even though he looks really stupid, Zayn can’t help but feel fond and just smile at the boy in front of him.

“I can see that.” Niall replies with an amused tilt to his voice, and the phone echoes his words.

“I should probably hang up now.”

“Probably.” Niall laughs and brings the phone away from his ear, grinning at Zayn likes he’s the second coming of Christ. It makes his heart burst into flames so he turns to where Louis was stood to ask him to get the bags with him to find that he isn’t there anymore. He must’ve already gone into the house to see his beloved.

“Bet he didn’t take the bags.” Zayn says conspiringly and Niall follows him to the car with a skip in his step.

“I’ll help,” He doesn’t give Zayn a chance to protest before grabbing one of the bags from the boot once he opens it and slinging it over his shoulder, “I _am_ the host after all.”

“And a wonderful one, by the looks of it.” Niall beams at him like he had just told him he’s getting him a puppy and Zayn feels like ruffling his hair. So he does. The smaller boy laughs and squirms away, his hair even more messed up than before but his smile brighter.

“I spent hours on this do, Zayn.” He protests as they walk down the drive after Zayn has locked the car.

“I find that hard to believe.” He scoffs, letting Niall take the bag off his shoulder once they’re in the house.

“Yeah, it was a total lie,” Niall shrugs, “I’ll be right back, I’ll go put these in the bedroom. I think the lads are in the game room watching Frozen,” He points down a hall, “Just the first door on your right.”

“Thanks.” Zayn makes his way to where he’s told to find a three man dog pile.

“You heathens!” Louis screams from the bottom, “Release me!”

“Never!” Harry laughs in response, relaxing himself further, putting more weight on Louis’ brittle body. He really is fucking tiny.

“Why did I have to be in the middle of this?” Liam groans, struggling to get free but Louis wraps his arms around his waist, stopping him from moving.

“You’re defending my honour, Li.” Harry mumbles into the sofa cushion his face is currently smooshed into.

“I didn’t do anything!” Louis screeches and Zayn really wishes Niall were here.

“You probably did.” He announces his presence and three heads snap to look at him at once, one of them with more difficulty because of the two bodies on top of him.

“Zayn!” Louis smiles, “Here to save me.” Zayn crosses his arms and leans against the door frame, trying to look as unimpressed as possible.

“That depends,” He looks to Harry, “What did he do?”

“Stole the remote.” Harry pouts, looking nothing less than bloody adorable.

“Louis,” Zayn tuts, “How could you?”

“Why is my body being crushed over a stolen remote?” Liam moans, sounding close to death.

“I was just thinking the same thing.” Louis hums, “Maybe get off me?”

“I would if I could.” Liam squeezes his eyes shut as Harry cackles.

“One does not simply steal the remote, Louis.” Zayn does the matching hand gesture before leaping on top of Harry, making all three boys under him groan in pain.

“Whyyyy.” Harry whines turning his face further into the cushion.

“Hello darkness my old friend,” Louis blinks at the ceiling, “Oh wait, is that a light?”

“Alright, lads who’s ready for the night of their-?” Niall stops short when he sees the pile, “Puppy pile?” His face lights up and all the boys shout their protests but they fall on deaf ears as Niall jumps on Zayn’s back with a raucous laugh.

“Hello there.” Zayn greets him, turning to see the boy’s face is only inches away from his own. His eyes are glittering and even with the Pikachu onesie’s hood up he’s the most beautiful thing Zayn has ever seen.

“S’up.” Niall smiles down at him and Zayn would have smiled back but there’s a knee being pushed into his stomach.

“Whose fucking knee is that?!”

“Might be mine.” Is Liam’s sheepish reply.

“My knee is in _something_ soft.” Louis wriggles, toppling the balance slightly but the pile manages to stay upright.

“I think that’s my crotch.” Harry hums.

“Well, no complaints there.”

“Do not flirt when I am between you!” Liam shouts, “I swear to God, Louis, if you get a boner-”

“As fit as you are, love-”

“Louis.” Harry chastises.

“Let me finish, babe,” Louis continues, “As fit as you are, I am happily taken.”

“I’m _straight._ ” Liam squawks, “I don’t want your dick anywhere near me!”

“Aw, he’s straight.” Zayn coos.

“Isn’t that cute.” Harry turns his head slightly to smile up at Zayn.

“That’s it,” Liam huffs before struggling until he shoves all three boys off him and sends them toppling to the floor with indignant screams. He stands up and leaves Louis lying on the sofa looking at him like he’s the second coming of Christ, “You’re dicks.”

“Yes, yes,” Harry sits upright, “And we all know you don’t like dick.”

“I don’t either.” Niall says inappropriately loud. Harry just looks at him and Zayn’s stomach drops.

“Sure,” Louis drawls, “You keep telling yourself that.”

“What? I don’t!” Niall stands up and puts his hands on his hips, “Strictly into the vag. I love footie!”

“So do I,” Louis shrugs, “but those aren’t the only balls I like to play with.”

“That was disgusting,” Zayn sighs, “But true.” If Niall says he’s straight, then Zayn isn’t going to push him.

“Beautiful analogy, babe.” Harry climbs onto the sofa and lies on top of the older boy, whom instead of complaining like Zayn would expect him to, just pulls him in closer and nuzzles into his hair.

“I’m going to say I’m the only straight one here.” Liam nods, looking around at them all with a sort of confused expression, “I’m the novelty straight person. It’s like an alternate universe.”

“Is no one listening to me?” Niall flails his arms, nearly hitting Zayn in the face where he hasn’t bothered moving from where he landed.

“I am.” He holds up his hand like you do in class with a smile. Niall gives him a high five like that’s what he was asking for, then grabs his hand and pulls him to his feet.

“Zayn’s my new favourite.” He states, pulling him into his side with a surprisingly strong arm. Zayn tries not to swoon.

“Like that’s a surprise.” Harry mumbles into Louis’ neck, the smaller boy now carding his hand through his curls as he giggles at Harry’s statement.

“Shut up.” Niall points at him, “Me and Zayn are gunna go get snacks and bond without you fuckers.”

“Oh,” Liam waggles his eyebrows, “Bonding.” It’s a mission not to blush at that, even the thought of that kind of bonding with Niall making him feel hot under the collar. Luckily Niall only responds with roll of his eyes and leads them both out of the room.

“They can be right dicks sometimes.” Niall grumbles, eyes on the floor.

“Hey,” Zayn puts an arm around his waist and pulling him into his side, “Don’t be all grumpy, this is your night. If you’re straight, you’re straight. Just because other people don’t think so doesn’t mean you’re not.”

“It’s not that,” Niall sighs, “I just wish they’d let me figure it out for myself, work it out in my own time.”

“What do you mean?” They reach the kitchen and Niall moves away from Zayn’s side to start rummaging through the cupboards. He’s facing away from him but Zayn can tell the boy’s thinking, so he stays silent, waiting for Niall to articulate his answer.

“You guys,” He eventually starts and puts down the pack of crisps he’s found on the counter, “You all have yourselves figured out. You know what you want, _who_ you want. It’s a little daunting to be so behind.” Niall turns and leans back, running a nervous hand through his hair, “I’ve always been so sure, you know? Then Lou and Haz came along and they kinda broke my view of the world. They’re the happiest couple I’ve ever seen, they’re both guys and they’ve only been together for a week. It’s like a niggling feeling in me and I can’t figure it out,” He lets out a breath, “Not yet.”

“You don’t have to.” Zayn is kind of taken aback by the little speech, especially because he has effectively known the boy for 2 weeks and he seems to already trust Zayn so much, “They say these things but they’re just teasing, babe. If you just said this to them, they’d understand.”

“I know,” Niall chuckles, “But I think telling you is enough for one evening.”

“Thanks for that, by the way.” Zayn pulls the smaller boy into a hug. Now just feels like the right time for it even though Zayn isn’t really a hugger. It only takes Niall a second before he relaxes and wraps his arms around Zayn’s waist.

“Let’s just say that for now, I know I’m not straight.” Niall breathes a laugh into Zayn’s neck.

“So Liam really is the novelty straight guy.”

“Yeah, I guess he is.” Niall laughs again as they separate, “We better get back in there before Larry try and convince Liam to have a threesome with them.”

“Larry?” Zayn raises an eyebrow, his hands still on Niall’s shoulders, thumbs stroking over his neck and Niall’s hands resting on Zayn’s hips.

“Yeah,” Niall shrugs, “I combined their names to make a ship name. Larry Stylinson.”

“Let’s just get back in there.” Zayn shakes his head fondly before helping Niall carry the huge collection of food he managed to find (pringles, doritos, jaffa cakes, chocolate digestives, two 2 litre bottles of irn bru, and some bulmers).

It’s relatively calm when they walk back in, Harry and Louis still in the same positons they were left in and Liam sat leant against the sofa, flicking through the channels and humming a tune under his breath.

“Why do I feel like this is the calm before the storm?” Zayn whispers in Niall’s ear.

“Because it is,” Niall whispers back with a smirk, “The calm never lasts long.”

As soon as he finishes that sentence, Liam woops and accidentally throws the remote backwards, straight onto Harry’s head.

“Liam Payne,” Louis glares at him, “Prepare to die.”

“No, Lou!” Harry shouts dramatically, snuggling further into the smaller boy, “He’s not worth it.”

“Sorry,” Liam smiles cautiously, “But High School Musical is on.”

“High school musical!” Niall screeches, belly flopping on top of Harry and Louis, “Troy Bolton is my main man.”

“Not this again.” Louis groans in pain.

“Oh is he, Niall?” Harry turns his head and waggles his eyebrows dramatically. Zayn sees Niall fumble looking for his words so he feels some saving is in order.

“Lay off him, yeah?” The food and drink find their home on the floor in front of the inactive fire as Louis pushes Niall off of Harry while somehow keeping the curly haired lad on top of him. Niall mouths ‘thank you’ at Zayn as they settle down to watch the movie.

It doesn’t last long. All it takes is Harry singing loudly during Gabriella’s dramatic solo song to set them all off, yodelling and somehow harmonising, actually sounding pretty good.

“We should totally form a band.” Niall pulls up his hood, “I’ll be the cool one.”

“You’re the opposite of cool.” Liam rolls his eyes, “I mean, that’s obviously me.”

“I think it’s Louis.” Harry smiles at the boy in question with far too much adoration in his eyes for a manly man sleepover.

“Disgusting.” Zayn throws a cushion at them and Niall laughs so hard at their affronted faces that he ends up in Zayn’s lap, holding his stomach and shaking.

“So rude.” Louis shakes his head and tuts.

“The rudest.” Harry agrees before turning his face back into Louis’ neck and ignoring the rest of the room.

Even though Niall had stopped laughing a few seconds ago, he is yet to move from where his top half had fallen into Zayn’s lap. It’s odd to see Niall so delicate and innocent, in a bloody Pikachu onesie of all things. Honestly, he’s amazed at how comfortable the boy has become around him even though they’ve only really been speaking for about two weeks. They sit together at lunch now, knocking elbows and brushing shoulders all the time, making Zayn’s blush almost permanent. Despite the fact that everything Niall does makes Zayn want to pull him into his arms and coo into his hair until the end of time, he too has grown more comfortable. He doesn’t feel like he’s going to die if they interact, and he doesn’t feel like the lad is judging him if he stutters or says something wrong. Niall has the kind of personality where you automatically trust him because you just know he doesn’t see you for your flaws. He’s probably one of the most open and kind people Zayn has met. It’s incredible, really, that Zayn has resisted kissing that pretty smile until its feel is permanently attached to his lips.

“Alright up there?” Niall’s voice is tilted with amusement and Zayn realises he’s been staring. The big kid in his lap just smiles up at him like he’s told him that unicorns _are_ real, making Zayn melt on the spot. He has never been more screwed.

“Fine.” He finds himself smiling back even though he feels slightly mortified at being caught.

“How do you look good even from this angle?” Niall laughs, trying to sound offended but failing. It’s times like these when Zayn is thankful for his skin colour because his blush would probably be visible from space if not for it.

“Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“Everywhere, eh?” Niall waggles his eyebrows and instead of stuttering and trying to think of an excuse to get out of the situation, Zayn finds himself laughing along with the boy.

“I think Harry’s fallen asleep.” Louis whispers to the room as a whole after a few hours of randomly flicking through channels then eventually turning to Netflix for inspiration. Daredevil is currently counting down to the next episode, and Liam clicks back onto the main menu at Louis’ statement.

“Maybe we should call it a night.” Niall murmurs from where he still hasn’t moved from Zayn’s lap. They did move from the floor to the other sofa though, Niall simply sprawling out and getting back into the position they were originally in without comment. His eyes are slipping closed and he lets out a yawn worthy of being compared to a kitten.

“Yeah, I’m beat.” Liam gets up and rubs his fists over his eyes, stretching.

“I think me and Haz will take the sofa ‘cause I doubt I’m going to get him to go upstairs.” Louis shuffles and moves Harry so that they are spooning comfortably, Louis behind, his arms wrapped around the boy’s waist and nose in the nape of his neck.

“I think that is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.” Niall smiles at the two like a proud parent.

“We should leave them alone,” Liam whispers, “I’m sleeping in the spare room, right?”

“Yeah, Zayn’s with me.” Zayn tries not to squee at how casually Niall says it, “That alright with you?” He directs up to him.

“No problem.”

They leave Louis and Harry softly snoring in the living room and go upstairs to get ready for bed. Niall and Zayn wish Liam a good night and leave him to go into the spare room and get some sleep.

“I’ve set up a little bed for you on the best part of the floor,” Niall smiles at him in the dark as they walk into his room, “It’s next to the radiator and on the other side of the room to my floor-drobe.”

“You’re so thoughtful.” Zayn rolls his eyes and takes in what surroundings he can see in the low light. There are a few golf posters on the walls, a desk in the far corner scattered with paper and books, a single bed in the middle of the room, and a huge pile of clothes next to the door that’s mostly T Shirts and sports shorts. It’s so _Niall_ that it makes Zayn smile.

“Only the best for you.” Niall guides him by his thin wrist to the other side of the bed where 2 sleeping bags and a duvet are piled on top of each other. It doesn’t look the most comfortable but Niall looks pretty proud of it so Zayn makes a show of collapsing onto it and wiggling around.

“The comfort,” Zayn moans, “I can’t take it.”

“Alright, Zayn, no need to overdo it.” Niall laughs.

“I’m not,” He rests on his elbows and looks up at the blond boy with raised eyebrows, “This is possibly more comfortable than my own bed.”

“You’re such a bull-shitter.” Niall picks up Zayn’s bag from the bed and throws it at him, “Put your damn pyjamas on and go to sleep.”

“Alright, bossy.”

He makes quick work of getting changed, facing away from the bed where Niall is making himself comfortable, shuffling around and making the duvet rustle every 5 seconds.

“Night, Zayn.” Niall whispers into the silent room once Zayn’s settled into the pile of sleeping bags, duvet pulled up to his shoulders.

“Night.” He replies, sighing as he turns on his side, only just able to see the peaceful look on Niall’s face as he falls asleep.


	4. Committee

“No.”

“But- but, _Zayn-”_

“ _No,_ Niall.” Zayn rolls his eyes as he slams his locker shut. He swears Niall has been on this for _days_ and the boy just will not take no for an answer.

“It could be fun!” Niall persists, following Zayn when he heads down the corridor to the doors. It’s a struggle not to roll his eyes again but Zayn manages it, always the trooper. For some unknown reason, Niall seems to think it’s a great idea for all the boys to join the prom committee. Louis and Harry were in before Niall had even finished the question, so loved up that they wanted anything to do with creating it for others. After they’d started staring into each other’s eyes, Niall had turned to Liam and rambled at him until the taller boy agreed to do it too. Zayn will not be convinced. He doesn’t do _prom_ so he certainly won’t be one of the people behind planning it. After hanging out with Louis for years, who likes to think he’s cool but is actually the opposite, he needs to at least keep some of his dignity.

“Absolutely not.”

“But Zaaaaayn,” Niall hangs his arms in front of him and stomps as they go down the stairs of the front entrance and into the carpark, “I want you to be there.”

“No. Do you want to hear it in Spanish? No.” He can kind of feel his resistance wearing thin. It has been very hard resisting Niall’s puppy eyes all week and Zayn’s not sure how much longer he can take it.

“Quoting the greatest show on earth will not deter me!” Niall shakes Zayn by his shoulders, pulling them both to a stop on the pavement. They’ve found that they both walk mostly the same way home, Niall turning off a bit earlier than Zayn does so they can spend at least 15 minutes walking together after school which is, honestly, bliss.

“I’m not being on the prom committee, Niall.” Zayn shrugs his hands off but bumps their shoulders together so Niall knows he isn’t mad.

“It won’t be the same without you,” Niall looks at his feet when they start moving again, “All the lads are great but I really like spending time with _you_ , ya know? You’re a great lad and I want you there when we make prom da bomb.”

“Da bomb?” Zayn asks to mask how complimented he is, “Is that what you’re going with?”

“I just poured my heart out to you, fucker, show some respect.” Niall thwacks him in the back of the head but he’s laughing. What Zayn would give to have Niall laugh all the time.

“Alright,” Zayn holds up his hands in mock surrender, “I’ll admit that I like spending time with you too,” Niall’s face brightens, “But I’ve got a reputation to keep up.”

“Reputation,” Niall scoffs, “What reputation? Everyone knows you’re an utter loser.”

“I’m not a loser!”

“You are,” The smaller boy swings an arm over his shoulders and pulls Zayn into his side, “But you’re _my_ loser.”

Niall drops it after that, but Zayn has a feeling it isn’t over.

 

Zayn is proven right the next day when he walks into the school to see people gathered around something on the other side of the corridor. Right outside Zayn’s locker. His heart is already pounding when he takes a few steps and he’s about ready to throw up when he finally reaches the crowd.

“That’s right everyone! Zayn Malik is fabulous and you should all help me.” Niall, of course.

“Niall, what are you doing?” Zayn pushes his way through the crowd and tries very hard not to look at any of their faces. He hates being the centre of attention and Niall has just gone and thrown him into the middle of whatever _this_ is.

“Hey!” Niall greets him with a wide grin and a kind of nervous look in his eyes, “I was guarding your locker.”

“It doesn’t need guarding,” Zayn frowns, “Why would it need guarding?” At his words, Niall steps to the side and Zayn can finally see his locker. It’s covered in ribbon, glitter and hearts. In the middle there’s a picture of the two of them that Liam had taken the other day when they were sat on the bench at football practise, smiling with their arms wrapped around each other. He shuffles from foot to foot, could Niall be doing what Zayn thinks he’s doing? If he is, that might be a heart attack threatening to pound through Zayn’s chest.

“Zayn Malik,” Niall comes to his side and his warmth feels like it’s burning, “Will you join the prom committee with me?”

Zayn would be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly disappointed.

“You’re a twat,” Zayn sighs, finally giving in, “But clearly you’re not going to quit. So yes, I will join the prom committee with you _._ ”

The crowd around them cheers as Niall pulls him into a hug. It’s like Niall can make anyone excited about anything, he’s a ball of sunshine and apparently it’s contagious. Even if it wasn’t really the question Zayn was looking for, he’s still really chuffed Niall wanted him on the prom committee so badly that he would go to this extent to convince him.

“You’re the best.” Niall pats his cheek, “The first meeting’s after school today!” With that, he leaves with the crowd and Zayn has to figure out how to open his locker with all the crap covering it.

 

Zayn never really liked Chemistry. His teacher, Miss Harris, is a monster. Most of the time Zayn just spends the lesson sketching her as different mythical creatures and laughs about them with Louis next to him. Today it’s a werewolf but instead of looking at the page, Zayn can feel Louis’ eyes on him.

“What?” He whispers, flicking his eyes up to the other boy and trying not to sound too irritated. Whenever Louis stares at him, a lecture or flurry of life advice usually follows. He’s not really feeling it today, his mind too occupied thinking about Niall and his stupid locker art.

“Just thinking.” Louis narrows his eyes and leans closer.

“About?”

“You.” Louis tilts his head, “Your life choices.”

“Well stop,” Zayn looks to his side again to find Louis’ face about an inch away from his own, looking smug and stupid, “It’s creeping me out.”

“No,” Louis shakes his head, “I’m not going to stop until _you_ stop.”

“Stop what?!”

“Zayn, Louis,” Miss Harris raises her eyebrows from the front of the room where she’s writing on the board, “Be quiet before I separate you.”

“Sorry, Miss.” They both say before Louis turns to him again and raises his eyebrows.

“You know what.” Louis leans back in his chair, swinging it back slightly and waggling his eyebrows. Confusion settles in Zayn’s brow.

“Why do you have to be so vague?”

“Because,” Louis smacks his lips together and continues in an even more hushed tone, “You need to get your shit together without my help.”

“You brought it up!” Zayn whisper shouts and sees Miss Harris shoot a sharp glance in his direction.

“That’s true.” Louis brings the front two legs of the chair back to the ground.

“So are you going to tell me what you’re talking about?” Zayn chews on his pencil as Louis taps a finger on his chin.

“Well,” He starts, “There’s a guy and another guy that have a lot of sexual tension and,” Louis snorts, “chemistry. Still they are yet to get their shit together and snog in a cupboard somewhere.”

“This is about Niall, isn’t it.” Zayn states blankly.

“That took you a while.” Louis swings his chair again.

“There’s no shit to get together.”

“Lies,” Louis slams his chair down, “Lies and deceit. You guys are almost as cute as me and Harry. Obviously you will never reach that level of cute even if you _do_ end up together, but you can try.”

“It’s not going to happen.” Zayn sighs. He’s had this crush for a long time and nothing has happened yet, so he doesn’t see why it would any time soon.

“It will. I’m going to _make_ it happen.”

“Thought you weren’t going to help me?” Zayn raises his eyebrows.

“I changed my mind,” He pats Zayn on the back, “You need all the help you can get.”

 

Zayn gives himself a mental pep talk on his way to the prom committee meeting. He still can’t believe he’s doing it. Bloody _Niall_ and his grand gestures and puppy eyes. Zayn’s completely helpless when it comes to doing things for Niall, and he really needs to get his act together. Before he knows it, the library doors are looming over him and he can hear chatter coming from inside.

“You can do it. Just stay in the back and don’t talk to anyone but the lads.” Zayn mutters to himself before pushing open the door and taking in who was there. All the boys had already arrived, sat together on one table, though Niall is stood just off to the side of it. Then there’s a table of girls, Zayn thinks the girl with brown hair is Eleanor, who had a crush on Louis in year 8. Then there’s Perrie, Danielle and Sofia, whom Zayn doesn’t really know much about but they seem nice enough. Zayn isn’t going to talk to them. Lastly there’s a mixed table with Nick, who has resat the year so many times at this point Zayn wouldn’t be surprised if he revealed he’s actually 30, with Caroline, same situation, and a dark skinned girl Zayn doesn’t recognise.

“Zayn! Our final member!” Niall yells, waving a clipboard in excitement, “Right, guys, now everyone is here we can talk themes and assign jobs!”

“What is he doing?” Zayn asks Liam as he sits down next to him, looking on as Niall babbles about his ideas for what prom could be like.

“Being the president of the prom committee,” Liam laughs at Zayn’s shocked expression, “Niall does this wherever he goes, you’ll get used to it.”

“Not sure I will.” Zayn leans back in his chair and watches Niall work.

“So, any ideas for a theme?” He asks the room as a whole, smiling like Christmas has come early when there are a few raised hands, “Harry?”

“I like nautical.” Harry nods, as if congratulating himself on a job well done.

“Yes!” Louis yells, “I was thinking the exact same thing.”

“It’s almost like-” Harry starts,

“We’re soulmates.” They say together and proceed to stare into each other’s eyes like nothing else matters.

“Cuties.” Niall scrunches his face up before pointing to Perrie for her to say her idea.

“I like pastel colours. So maybe sweets? Like love hearts, things like that.” The other girls start whispering about it, giggling at each other.

“Hey,” Harry perks up, “Speaking of. I have sweets!” He pulls a pack of fruit pastels from his pocket and throws one to each person in the room. Of course he feeds Louis’ straight into his mouth. With his mouth. Zayn has to look away.

“Alright then,” Niall smacks his lips together, “Any other ideas?”

“Burgers.” Eleanor stares of into the distance, “I really like burgers.”

“How would a burger theme work?” Nick frowns at her condescendingly, to which she looks at Niall with pleading eyes.

“Can we have burgers?” She bats her eyelashes and Niall laughs.

“Sure, if our budget covers it.” Eleanor sits back in her seat, satisfied for now. Zayn raises his hand.

“Zayn, me dear,” Niall beams at him, “You got one?”

“Yeah,” He clears his throat, “Maybe we could do art? Like, have paintings done by the best artists in the school, maybe even teachers. And we could have fairy lights and stuff like ‘starry night’.”

“Oh!” Louis jumps up and down in his seat, “And a green screen photo booth so you can pose like ‘the scream’, and other paintings.” He dramatically puts his hands on his cheeks and opens his mouth wide, sending Harry into fits of hysterics.

“Maybe a huge canvas that people can write or paint their names on?” Caroline interjects, “Obviously it would be monitored so no one can draw penises.”

“But,” Harry raises his eyebrows, “What if it’s a really artistic penis?”

“No.” Liam shakes his head, “But we could have a caricature artist as well.”

“And burgers.” Eleanor smiles. Zayn didn’t think his idea would gain this much steam, but he can’t help but smile at the fact that it has.

“Brilliant!” Niall shouts, “Fuckin’ brilliant, that is. Zayn,” He turns to him and smacks a kiss on his cheek, “You are my favourite person.”

“Already knew that.” Liam mutters and Zayn would’ve commented on it but Niall carries on talking.

“Art theme it is, then.” He takes the pen from behind his ear and taps it on the clipboard, “Now to assign jobs.”

Zayn leaves the meeting with the duty of doing the decorations for the entrance and main hall, and a Niall by his side chatting about how excited he is that they’re all going to be working together to make prom as amazing as possible. He wonders how anyone can not fall in love with that smile and heart.


	5. Bed Ridden

Usually, Zayn’s immune system never fails him. Usually, Zayn has peak health. When he’s keeled over the toilet on Friday morning he realises today is not like usual.

“Fuck.” He spits into the toilet and pulls himself back to his feet. After brushing his teeth and making sure he feels sufficiently sorry for himself, Zayn makes his way into his bedroom again and flops onto his bed, “Mum!”

“What?” His mum sighs as she walks into the room, “You look dead.”

“I think I am.” Zayn grumbles into his pillow.

“I’ll make you some soup, love. Stay in bed.” She smiles and runs a hand through his hair before going out of the room again, closing the door. It’s rare for Zayn to be ill, so he feels like he has to let Louis know or else he will end up coming over here and demanding Zayn get to school.

**To Lewis**

_Staying off school today. Feel like shit x_

**From Lewis**

_You fucker you’re missing a meeting and football practise !! I’ll debrief you after_

**To Lewis**

_Best.friend.ever_

**From Lewis**

_You know it ;)_

Zayn spends most of the day stewing in bed, a bucket next to him just in case all hell breaks loose. His mum knocks on his door at some point in the afternoon, Zayn has kind of lost track of time, telling him someone is there to see him. He assumes it’s Louis so doesn’t bother putting a shirt on from when he stripped off because he was too hot.

“You look like shit.” Niall’s voice comes from the doorway. Okay, so maybe he should put a shirt on. He goes to sit up but his stomach groans in warning, so he lies back down again, accepting his fate of feeling exposed for all of this encounter.

“What are you doing here?”

“Doing Louis’ duty,” He waggles his eyebrows, “He got distracted by Haz.”

“Of course.” Zayn’s eyes focus slightly and he blinks the remaining fuzziness out of them. Niall is still in the doorway, clad in his football kit, hair still plastered to his forehead with sweat. His smile is bright and he’s still looking at Zayn like he’s the sun even though he knows he looks like shit. Niall said so himself.

“Nothing really happened,” Niall shrugs, going to sit on the end of the bed. Zayn scooches over and pats the space next to him, prompting Niall to shuffle back so they’re shoulder to shoulder, “Just people going about their business and sports.”

“Sports, huh?” Zayn raises an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t have expected that.”

“I know, really was an unexpected turn of events,” Niall laughs, “Are you feeling any better?” He turns to look at Zayn with concern in his eyes and a downward tilt to his mouth. It’s probably bad that even that leaves Zayn breathless.

“A bit,” Zayn shrugs, leaning his head on Niall’s shoulder, “I haven’t thrown up again.”

“You want me to make you some soup?” Niall wraps an arm round his shoulders and rests his head on top of Zayn’s, “I don’t know where it is but I’m up for the challenge.”

“It’s fine, my mum made me some earlier.” He finds himself smiling at the fact that Niall was willing to do that for him. Not that it’s much of a big deal, but it’s more that it’s Niall, in his house, offering to rummage through his cupboards just to find some soup to make Zayn.

“No harm in more soup.”

“You are what you eat.”

“Are you suggesting that if you eat more soup you will _become_ soup?” Niall giggles, stroking his thumb absently up and down Zayn’s arm.

“Yes,” Zayn lifts his head up, forcing Niall to do so too, and looks at him with a small smile, “Do you want me to be soup, Niall? Would you be friends with soup?”

“If it was you,” Niall nods with certainty, “Yes.”

“What soup would I be, do you think?” Zayn’s not sure how it happened, but he and Niall always end up making conversations out of nothing. It’s not deep, it’s not beautiful, but it is. Because it’s Niall. Zayn could talk about soup all day if it meant making Niall smile.

“Something with noodles in it,” The boy narrows his eyes, trying to see inside Zayn to think of what soup he is, “Because of your noodle arms.”

“Noodle arms,” Zayn scoffs, “These are all muscle.” He brings one up and tries to flex, which ends pathetically.

“You keep telling yourself that.” Niall laughs and Zayn drops his arm, turning to smile at the other boy instead of trying to prove his manliness.

“I will.” He nods.

Niall stays for another two hours. They talk about TV shows and music, Zayn’s sisters and guitar, Harry and Louis, and Liam’s poor love life. When Niall has to leave, they are laid in Zayn’s bed with the duvet at their shoulders, facing each other and giggling about their plans for prom.

“It’s gunna be amazing.” Zayn rubs one eye, trying to wipe away the tiredness. He doesn’t really feel sick anymore, but he definitely needs to sleep off the rest.

“I really want it to work out,” Niall smiles nervously, “That night has to be perfect.”

“And what would your perfect prom be, Niall?” Zayn asks, settling further into the pillow.

“I’d want to pick them up from their house, with a bouquet of flowers in their favourite colour.” Niall starts, looking at Zayn like he’s holding in a grin.

“If their favourite colour isn’t blue, they’re wrong.” Zayn laughs.

“Blue it is, then.” Niall snorts, “And then we’d get to the school and hold hands while we go in, obviously winning cutest couple.”

“Obviously.”

“And we’d dance. Fast songs and slow, I’d want to have fun with them, not just be sickeningly romantic.”

“Balance is key,” Zayn nods, “My signature move is the worm.”

“I’d pay to see that,” Niall sighs before continuing, “We’d eat and laugh and hang out with the lads, just enjoying each other’s company. Then the lights would go down and it’d be the last song of the night.”

“Got to be All About Us, Owl City.” Zayn purses his lips.

“Of course,” Niall agrees, “We’d get closer and closer as the dance goes on, until our mouths are inches apart and I lean in for the perfect kiss.” It’s then that Zayn notices they’ve moved closer. Niall is only a few breaths away from him, close enough for Zayn to touch their noses if he wanted to.

“The perfect kiss?” He breathes.

“Electric, you know?” Niall gives him a small smile, “I’m all about the build-up.”

“Me too.”

They both go silent, just breathing together in the dark of Zayn’s room.

 _“I like big butts and I cannot lie-”_ Loud music comes from Niall’s bag at the door and he jumps away from Zayn, hopping out of the bed to grab it and bring it to his ear.

“Hey, mum,” His eyes widen and he stammers to answer, “Yeah, I know. Sorry. Yeah, I’ll be right home. It’s fine, I’ll walk. Alright. Okay. See you later, love you.”

“Got to go?” Zayn asks, sitting up and just catching his breath.

“Yeah- um,” Niall looks anywhere but at Zayn, “I’ll see you later.” He immediately grabs his bag and rushes out of the room, leaving Zayn confused and cold, lying on his back alone in his bed.

He starts to feel like he imagined that whole thing.


	6. Take me to Prom

Decorations are interesting. Zayn actually finds himself enjoying sketching the room and deciding where things need to go along with Perrie and Liam. Perrie is surprisingly artistic and Liam is good for making calls and keeping them within the budget.

Fairy lights are a must, they decide from the start, and they commission the art club to make a few paintings to hang up around the hall. They’re also making another room for the giant canvas people can write their names on, along with a doodle, and deciding who the best person would be to monitor it, (“Louis could do it.” “Louis would be the one drawing the penises.” “Specifically Harry’s.”). Eventually they decide that they’ll get Miss Thompson to do it because she’s an art teacher and reasonably responsible.

It’s exciting, really. On the day of prom, Zayn can look around and say ‘I did that’. He can leave his mark and make people have a great last hoorah before going off to university. Plus he gets to make sure the night is great for himself, which is amazing. The only thing is that he hasn’t got a date. It’s two weeks away, everything is ordered, burgers are ensured (much to Eleanor’s delight) and Zayn has his suit. He just doesn’t have anyone to go with.

Louis asked Harry at the end of the football game of the season. He got down on one knee and gave Harry a silver necklace with a paper aeroplane charm. It was kind of beautiful. Niall cried. Liam was asked by Sophia and said yes, of course, because she’s beautiful and a good laugh. The only ones left in the group without dates are Niall and Zayn.

They talk about prom a lot together, laughing about how they both want pretty much the same thing and ‘How ridiculous is that?’. Every time it happens, Zayn can’t help but wish that Niall will ask him. One day when they’re lying in Zayn’s bed in the dark, smiling at each other under the covers, Niall will turn to him and bite his lip, asking him to go to prom with him. It feels so close on so many occasions but it never happens. Niall never asks him.

He could ask Niall, but he doesn’t feel like he can. Even though Zayn’s so much more comfortable around him, his throat still closes up whenever the conversation turns to more romantic grounds. If he doesn’t sense it coming he’s okay, but if he does then everything goes wrong, he changes subject and acts like nothing happened in the first place. It’s a problem.

Zayn’s not really sure what he’d say if Niall asked him. He’d want to say yes but knows it just wouldn’t come out and Niall would feel rejected then never speak to him again.

That doesn’t stop him from thinking about it, though.

“I accept your point,” Niall concedes, stirring the onions that are slowly sizzling in the pan, “But you’re wrong.”

“Captain America _is_ better than Iron Man.” Zayn laughs and hops up onto the counter, watching Niall as he adds the mince to what is going to become bolognaise, “It’s a fact.”

“I can’t believe you honestly think that. I’m starting to rethink our whole friendship.”

“Me too. I could never betray Cap’s beautiful biceps.” Zayn sighs wistfully, then has to quickly dodge the wooden spoon Niall tries to smack him with. They’re at Niall’s house, making tea for just the two of them because his parents are out on ‘date night’. His brother moved out years ago, and is now 23 working as a lawyer back in Ireland, where Niall was born. It’s nice when they have to house to themselves because they can watch TV on the big screen and go into the kitchen whenever they like to grab more snacks.

“You are a naughty boy, Malik.” Niall tuts, raising his eyebrows like a disapproving mother.

“They’re biceps.” Zayn shrugs, “At least I didn’t talk about his huge bulge.”

“Zayn!”

“What?” Zayn laughs and slides off the counter, bumping his hip to Niall’s as he comes to his side.

“Don’t talk about,” Niall screws his face up, “Bulges.”

“Why not?” Zayn hums, “They’re perfectly natural things to have.”

Niall suddenly looks down at his own crotch and makes a thoughtful noise.

“I guess you’re right.” He agrees then moves his eyes to Zayn’s. He tries not to think about it for obvious reasons, “Yeah, you’re definitely right.”

“Now who’s naughty?” Zayn raises an eyebrow while trying not to get too worked up while in the middle of the kitchen.

“Me.” Niall grins and stirs the chicken. Zayn simply watches him and smiles. He would love to be next to Niall while he’s cooking for them every day for the rest of his life.

 

It’s the last meeting before prom. Everyone is panicking, apart from Zayn. Everyone is worrying they’ve forgotten something, apart from Zayn. He just isn’t a worrier. It’s a well-known fact that Zayn is pretty logical when it comes to critical situations. He’s one of the most level headed people you’d ever have the displeasure to meet, and is usually that guy sat with his chair on its hind legs while everyone is around him setting stuff on fire and screaming.

No one has quite got to that point yet, just nail-biting and generally murmuring to themselves about what they might have forgotten.

“How aren’t you panicking?” Liam says to him with wide eyes, calculator in front of him surrounded by various pieces of paper with scribbles and numbers on them.

“I don’t know,” Zayn shrugs, “I guess I’m just a chill guy.”

“Well,” Niall looks at him from the other side of the table, “Could this ‘chill guy’ come over here and help me?”

“Sure,” Zayn gets up and moves around the table so he can share Niall’s seat with him. He only manages to fit half on, even when Niall scooches to the side so he can sit, “What do you need?”

“Which colour is better?” Niall has a sheet of paper in front of him with a few pictures of ties of various colours.

“Why? Shouldn’t you be, like, coordinating the team or something?”

“They all know what they’re doing,” Niall waves a dismissive hand, “Now, tell me what you think, Malik.”

“Um,” Zayn looks over the pictures and tries not to preen at the fact that Niall cares about his opinion, “I quite like the blue one.”

“Is that the colour you’re wearing?”

“Nah, I’m wearing purple,” Zayn points to one of them, “Like that one.”

“Huh,” Niall tilts his head in consideration, “I like that one. I’m going with that.” He scrunches up the paper after finishing his sentence and throws it towards the bin, missing terribly but still cheering like he got it in, “So, have you got a date yet?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“What?”

“What?” Niall’s eyes widen.

“You said-”

“EVERYTHING SUCKS!” Zayn is interrupted by Louis yelling like a mad man on the other side of the room. He lets out a sigh when Niall’s attention is immediately snatched away.

“What’s up?” He raises his voice slightly to be heard.

“I’m on dancefloor, right?” Louis starts, clearly settling for a long story.

“Yeah, I know, Lou. I gave you that job.” Niall laughs.

“Right,” Louis waves a hand, “Anyway. The fucking dude I hired to come and serve drinks and things has gone and cancelled on me. I paid the deposit and he is refusing to give it back.”

“What a bitch.” Niall frowns, “Have we got enough to get someone else?”

“We have £20 left.” Liam’s mouth tilts into a slight frown. Clearly he doesn’t think that’s enough.

“We’re doomed.” Eleanor states with a nod of her head, “This doesn’t affect the burgers, right?”

“No, Eleanor,” Caroline rolls her eyes and inspects her nails, “It’s does not affect your precious burgers.”

“I’ve failed you all.” Louis cries, “There is only one thing for it. Seppuku.”

“Nooooo!” Harry hugs him and pretends to weep, “Don’t do it, Lou.”

“I have to.” Louis puffs out his chest, “For honour.”

“Children.” Nick tuts and leans back in his chair, looking around the room like he would rather be anywhere but here.

“So dramatic.” Zayn mutters under his breath, be it fondly.

“I know, right?” Niall agrees, raising an eyebrow at him before turning to the room as a whole and raising his voice again, “We’ll sort this. Has anyone got siblings or cousins, maybe older friends, that’d do it for twenty quid?”

Everyone looks to each other with apprehensiveness before pulling out their phones and texting various brothers, sisters, friends. There’s a deathly silence in the room and Zayn crosses his fingers under the table. He has kind of got attached to this whole ‘prom’ thing now.

“I’M A FUCKING GENIOUS!” Harry practically screams, leaping up and waving his phone like it’s the answer to all of their problems.

“Yes you are,” Louis nods, “But is it relevant, dear?”

“Yeah,” Harry rolls his eyes, “Or I wouldn’t have shouted it. God, Louis. My sister says she has a friend that can do it, free of charge.” Harry grins, “As long as he gets to play a few songs.”

“Ed?” Louis asks, sharing a knowing look with Harry, who nods with a smirk.

“Sorted then.” Perrie smiles, putting down her pencil like she had just contributed something amazing.

“Sorted.” Zayn agrees, nodding at her. She turns her smile to him and there’s a glint in her eye that scares him a bit.

“I think that’s enough stress for today.” Niall clears his throat, “We have everything sorted and if any of you are worried about something, come see me and we’ll get it sorted. Alright?” There’s a murmuring of agreements, “Meeting adjourned!”

“You walking home?” Zayn asks him as they pack up.

“Yeah, meet me out front?”

“Why can’t we just go together now?” Zayn furrows his brow.

“I think someone wants to talk to you.” Niall winks before sauntering off. Zayn stands there confused for a moment before there’s a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey,” It’s Perrie, “You got anywhere to be right away?”

“No, why?” Zayn tries to subtly step away, and it seems it works because Perrie’s smile doesn’t falter.

“Well, I heard you and Niall talking earlier,” She fiddles with the hem her skirt and bites her lip, “And you said you still didn’t have a date to prom? Like, I don’t have one either. I was wondering if you just wanted to go together. Like a date… thing.”

“Um,” Zayn shuffles on his feet and tries to think of something to say. He’s not really used to having romantic attention from someone. Maybe there’s a way to let her down gently, “You know I’m gay, right?” Is what comes out, not exactly gentle.

“Oh,” Perrie’s eyes widen and she stammers to apologise, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know, jeez that was insensitive of me. Like, I just assumed. I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine, honestly,” Zayn tries to reassure her with a small smile, “I’m not exactly your stereotype, so.”

“No,” Perrie laughs a little shakily, “You’re definitely not. You wear leather jackets and have that scruff and-” Zayn raises his eyebrows in amusement and her mouth slams shut, “Yeah, I’m going to shut up now. I’ll see you in the leavers’ assembly.” With that she scurries out of the room before Zayn can say goodbye. He can’t help but feel a little bad for her.

“Ready?” Zayn says when he walks up to Niall’s back outside. The other boy jumps a little and lets out a relieved laugh when he sees it’s Zayn.

“Yeah, sure.”

They walk in silence for a bit but Zayn can tell Niall wants to say something. He’s doing this thing where he opens and closes his mouth like a fish and then looks confused as to why he did it.

“You alright?” Zayn prompts and Niall’s head snaps to him like he forgot he was there.

“Um,” He gains his composure and smiles, “You and Perrie, huh? She ask you to prom?”

“Yeah, she did.” Zayn smiles. It’s kind of a compliment, really. Even if he doesn’t like girls, it’s nice to know he attracts them.

“You said yes, right?” Niall purses his lips, “Like, you can like girls too.” Niall looks away from him and stares out in front of them with a furrowed brow, “I’m totally okay with that. Bisexuality is a thing, right? You’re bisexual? I mean, Perrie’s a nice girl- I would. You guys would make a really hot couple.” Niall lets out a breath and gives Zayn a weak smile, “I’m happy for you.”

“Niall,” Zayn laughs. He loves it when the boy rambles, it’s the cutest thing, “I said no. I’m gay.”

“Oh,” Niall nods, “Alright then.”

“You’re such an idiot.” Zayn pulls Niall into his side and ruffles his hair with the opposite hand.

“You love it.” Niall giggles.

“I do.”

When Niall asks him to stay over, of course he says yes; and when he says they should share a bed instead of Zayn sleeping on the floor (“It’s uncomfortable, and I’ve got a double.”), of course he says yes; and when Niall kisses him on the cheek before drifting off, Zayn feels like screaming ‘yes’ from the rooftops until his lungs give out.


	7. Kiss You

“Take it! Take it all, Malik!”

“I can’t!” Zayn pleads, mouth full.

“Yes you can! And you will,” Louis stuffs more malteasers into his mouth with a determined grunt, “You’re only 10 away from the world record.”

“Ten?!” Zayn shouts but it probably comes out more like ‘shen?!’. Zayn was doing some work for his art coursework when Louis decided to pull him away from it so they could attempt to break a world record. He should never have let him near the bookshelf.

“No!” Louis yells when Zayn eventually has to spit all of the chocolate balls out of his mouth and into the bowl they brought up earlier. As Zayn rubs his sore cheeks, Louis lets out a huff and crosses his arm. “You’re no fun.”

“I’m not a hamster,” Zayn frowns, “How did that guy fit all those malteasers in his mouth? Is _he_ a hamster?”

“Might be part hamster, on his mother’s side.” Louis flops down onto the sofa, taking up the whole thing and resting his legs on top of Zayn’s.

“Maybe.”

“Hey,” Louis looks at the ceiling, biting his lip, “Do you think Harry would appreciate a limo?”

“Going all out, are we?” Zayn squeezes the other boy’s ankle.

“I dunno,” Louis shrugs, “I just want to make this night one of the best in his life. I want him to remember me.”

“How could he forget you? You’re getting married and having little, annoying children in no time.” Zayn doesn’t think he has ever seen a couple as perfect for each other as Harry and Louis are. It’s like their souls were made with the other in mind.

“I’m not sure,” Louis shifts slightly, scratching his arm, “He’s such a beautiful person. He’ll bloom in Uni and find some great guy to get married to. I’m just a fling. I’m not made for long term.”

“But you want to for him, right?” Zayn looks onto his friend, wanting desperately to be able to show him how amazing he and Harry are together. He honestly couldn’t imagine either one of them with anyone else.

“I do,” Louis sighs, “But he’s so far away, it’s unreal. It’s like he’s this ethereal thing that enchants anyone he meets. How could someone in Uni not fall for him?”

“There might be people who fall for him, Lou,” Zayn smiles, “But he’s just as gone for you as you are for him.”

“Harry falls fast and hard.” Louis purses his lips, “I’m afraid he’ll leave just as fast.”

“I don’t think he will,” Zayn shrugs, “But the only thing you can do is try. See how long it lasts.”

“I guess.”

“Don’t doubt how much he loves you if he hasn’t done anything to make you think that way.”

“Why are you so wise?” Louis whines, “You should be on a rock somewhere in the mountains, waiting for people to go on a huge pilgrimage to get your life changing advice.”

“I should.” Zayn nods, face stoic.

“Cocky.” Louis raises an eyebrow at him then sits up and gets _that look_ on his face. It’s the ‘I’m going to make you talk about something you don’t want to talk about and I’m going to love it’ face. “So, prom.”

“Prom.” Zayn narrows his eyes.

“You.” Louis tilts his head, leaning back on his hands and trying to look nonchalant, “A certain blond, Irish lad we know.”

“We’re not talking about this.” Zayn tries to stand up but Louis presses his legs down and that boy has bloody strong thighs for someone so small. The thing is, prom is just under two weeks away now. Both he and Niall don’t have a date and Zayn can tell that they’re both dancing around the subject. It’s come to the point where Zayn is almost certain Niall has feelings for him, but he can’t for the life of him ask about it. Niall hasn’t got himself figured out yet, he said so himself. Zayn refuses to push the boy when he said he wants to figure it out on his own. Maybe one day he will figure it out and come find him, but if he doesn’t, that’s okay.

They’ve been studying together for their exams, even though most of them are over and they both take mostly coursework based subjects. Zayn’s last one is in two days’ time, and Niall took his last that day in the morning. The whole group is going to Nandos when all exams are over to celebrate. Louis wasn’t really part of today’s plan, but Zayn always has time for his best friend. Especially when he lives practically across the street from him so can turn up at any point unannounced.

“Yes, we are.” Louis flicks his fringe away from his eyes and looks like he’s about to go to war, “You two have been tiptoeing around each other for centuries and me and the boys are getting sick of it. If you don’t get your shit together, we will do it for you.”

“Louis,” Zayn rests his head on the back of the sofa and looks his friend in the eye, “He hasn’t figured himself out yet. He needs to work on all that sexuality shit on his own and us pushing him to decide won’t help. Like at all.”

“It’s so frustrating watching you two interact though,” Louis moans, “I just want to squish your faces together and yell ‘Kiss!’ until you do.”

“Please don’t do that.” Zayn grimaces at the image. He would want his and Niall’s first kiss to be romantic, not involving Louis’ hands on the back of their heads.

“No promises.” Louis winks just as Zayn’s phone chirps.

**From Niall**

_Come over?? Wanna see you x_

“You’re smiling,” Louis raises his eyebrows, “It’s Niall isn’t it?”

“Absolutely not.”

**To Niall**

_Are you okay? X_

**From Niall**

_Yeah, just wanna see your pretty face ;) x_

“Would you rather stay here or go home?” Zayn doesn’t bother looking away from his phone.

“What? Why?”

“I need to know if I have to lock up.” Zayn shrugs.

“You’re leaving?” Louis sighs, “Niall asked you to meet him, didn’t he?” Louis throws his head back when Zayn nods, “I’ll stay here. Your sofa is comfy and your mum makes amazing bolognaise.”

Zayn makes sure to give him a kiss on the cheek before he leaves. He really does love him.

**To Niall**

_Be there in 10 x_

Niall opens the door before Zayn has knocked with a smile on his face and flour smeared on his cheek.

“Welcome.” He beckons Zayn into the house and leads him to the kitchen which looks like a bomb just went off. There’s some dough of some kind on the cupboards and flour all over the counter and floor.

“What happened?” Zayn laughs, licking his thumb so he can wipe the flour off the other boy. Niall giggles and slaps Zayn’s hand away before gesturing to the oven whirring on the other side of the room.

“I made muffins.” Niall smiles, obviously proud of himself and sickeningly adorable.

“What flavour?”

“Blueberry,” Niall scoffs, “Obviously.”

“When can I have one?” Niall lights up at Zayn’s comment and runs over to the oven to check the timer.

“10 minutes.” He beams and Zayn would give anything to be able to litter him with kisses in that moment.

After eating enough blueberry muffins to feed a small army, Zayn and Niall migrate to the bedroom so they can lay there and talk about whatever is on their minds. It has become a kind of a tradition to lie opposite each other and talk about whatever they can’t with anyone else, somehow they’ve just become each other’s confidants.

They’ve been there for about an hour when Niall suddenly looks and Zayn, I mean really _looks_ at him. He shuffles slightly and in doing so moves an inch or so closer.

“I have a confession.” Niall bites his lip.

“Shoot.” Zayn tries not to let his heart beat out of his chest, looking back and forth between Niall’s eyes, hoping they tell him something.

“Um,” Niall suddenly panics, his eyes widening, “I-uh- I don’t really like Nandos that much.”

“Alright,” Zayn lets out a breath of a laugh, “Fair enough.”

Niall doesn’t say anything. He just stays there, looking at Zayn like he can see right through him. His eyes flick across Zayn’s face, looking between his eyes and roaming over his cheeks before finally landing on his lips. He licks his own which prompts Zayn to lick his. Niall’s eyes widen again and his eyes quickly move to Zayn’s eyes again.

“I-” Niall starts but his jaw snaps shut again.

“Yeah?” Zayn tries to encourage him, feeling surprisingly calm when everything seems like it’s sparkling.

Niall opens his mouth again but instead of saying anything he just leans in and hesitantly presses his lips against Zayn’s. It’s hard not to kiss back just yet, but Zayn doesn’t want to do anything Niall isn’t ready for. So he waits for Niall to move, do something.

Eventually he does. He moves farther forward and brings a hand up to cup Zayn’s cheek, moving his lips over Zayn’s until he finally kisses back. It’s almost desperate, like time is running out. Zayn’s hand goes naturally to rest on Niall’s hip as butterflies threaten to make his stomach explode. Niall’s lips are softer than he expected, the boy looking and acting so boy-like that his petal like touch is beautiful in comparison.

Before he knows it Niall is pulling away like has been burned and taking in a huge breath.

“Get out.” He breathes, eyes wide.

“Nia-”

“Get out!” Niall leaps out of the bed and rubs his hands over his face. Zayn slowly swallows and climbs out too, licking his lips and wondering where it went wrong. All of the butterflies in his stomach have turned to lead and dropped to the bottom, making his walk heavy as he makes his way around the bed to the door.

When he gets to the frame he looks back to see if Niall will even look at him. The boy has moved over to the window, staring out with a stony expression Zayn has never seen before.

He closes his eyes for a moment before walking down the corridor, down the stairs and out the door.


	8. Where do Broken Hearts Go?

**To Niall**

_Can we talk? X_

_I’m sorry_

_Please answer your phone? X_

_We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to but please talk to me_

_Niall?_

_Please_

_Im sorry_

Zayn nearly falls off the sofa when his phone goes off.

**From Lewis**

_Niall said he can’t come to nandos? What’s up with him_

He lets out a breath. Of course it was Louis. Niall hasn’t spoken to him in two days, and they won’t exactly bump into each other in school since they’re on study leave. Zayn sort of shut himself away, too embarrassed to talk to anyone, really.

Apparently Niall is doing the same.

**To Lewis**

_I don’t know_

Louis is his best friend, but he just knows he will get over protective in this situation and Niall doesn’t deserve that. He doesn’t really understand what happened or why Niall pushed him away, but he’s willing to wait for the boy to figure himself out. That doesn’t mean he won’t mope about being cast out.

**From Lewis**

_Im coming over_

**To Lewis**

_Whyyy?_

**From Lewis**

_Because I’m psychic_

“Zaynie!” Louis shouts about a minute later, slamming into the house.

“In the living room.” Zayn mumbles, knowing Louis will be able to hear him from the porch.

“You have your teddy,” Louis comments when he walks in, “You only get him out when you’re sad and vulnerable, what happened?”

“I hate that you know me so well.” Zayn grumbles, not even bothering to protest when Louis climbs into his lap and bops him on the nose with a frown.

“You’re sad.” He states.

“I am.”

“Why?”

“Niall,” At the look Louis gives him, Zayn can tell he will have to explain further. He’s not sure how much he’s feeling like reliving it, “He kissed me,” Zayn swallows, “Then he pushed me away after a few seconds and screamed at me to get out. Hasn’t talked to me since.”

“That wasn’t what was meant to happen.” Louis pulls Zayn into his chest and sticks his nose in his hair, “He’s a prick.”

“He’s not,” Zayn sighs, “He just doesn’t know what he wants.”

“It’s not fair to put that on you!” Louis says indignantly, “He should figure it out on his own and not pull you into it. He shouldn’t have kissed you if he wasn’t ready.”

“I know.”

“Dick move,” Louis hums, “I should talk to him.”

“No,” Zayn pulls away and gives the boy on top of him a stern look, “Don’t you dare.”

“Fine,” Louis’ shoulders slump, “But I’m cancelling nandos all together, it wouldn’t be the same without him.”

“Okay.” Zayn tries to smile slightly but finds it falls away far more easily.

“And I’m giving you cuddles until you’re better.” Louis pulls Zayn into his chest again and squeezes him within an inch of his life.

“Love you.” Zayn’s voice is slightly muffled by the other boy’s t shirt.

“Love you too, Zaynie.”

 

It’s prom night. Niall still hasn’t got back to him.

But this is his night. Zayn worked so hard on the decorations and can’t wait to see how it all turned out. Most of the Tech Club and art students all set the hall up, so the people who actually planned it don’t have to. Nick volunteered to go and monitor it so they didn’t get anything wrong or screw up the plan in any way. The guy seems like he knows what he’s doing so it should turn out pretty cool.

Louis said that he and Harry would pick him up in their limo on their way to the school, so that he didn’t arrive on his own. Arriving with them meant he would be the awkward third wheel in the photo, but he didn’t have the heart to say it because of the earnest looks on their faces.

At bang on 6:30 there’s a knock on his door and he runs down the stairs, quickly putting his tie over his neck so he can do it up in the car. When he gets to the bottom his mum comes in from the living room and smiles in a way that makes Zayn know he’s not getting out of here without a price.

“Pictures!” She announces with a grin, grabbing the camera from the cupboard.

“Mum, I haven’t even got my tie on.” Louis knocks on the door again, “Hang on a sec, Lou!” He quickly does his tie up and smiles for his mum to take a photo.

“I’ll get one of you and Lou as well,” She smiles wistfully, “You boys can never leave each other’s sides, can you?”

“Like conjoined twins.” Zayn raises an eyebrow and finally opens the door.

“Hey.” Someone who is definitely not Louis says.

“Niall.” Zayn knows his jaw is dropped but he can’t seem to close his mouth. Niall looks _stunning,_ his suit perfectly fitted, making him look 5 years older. His tie is deep purple, like Zayn’s, and he’s holding a bouquet of all kinds of blue flowers. He has a nervous smile and tentative eyes and Zayn wants to be mad at him in this moment, he really does, but he finds himself inviting the boy in instead.

“Hey, Miss Malik,” Niall goes to take her hand and kisses it, “Nice to see you again.”

“Don’t you look smart, Niall.” She smiles at him, completely charmed by his manners.

“Thanks,” Niall grins, “Wanted to dress to impress.”

“Well, I’m impressed.” Zayn looks the boy up and down as he turns to him, smiling, looking like the sun has just come out.

“Good,” He holds out the bouquet, “These are for you.”

“Um,” Zayn blinks down at the flowers in his hand, “Thanks, I guess.”

“Well, I better get a picture of you two.” Zayn’s mum gestures for them to step together, “I thought it would’ve taken you two less time to get together, really.”

“What?” Zayn almost shouts.

“Your dad and I had a bet.” She quirks an eyebrow before holding up the camera to snap a picture. Zayn just knows his smile will only be half formed because he can’t quite get the shock off his face.

“It did take a while,” Niall nods, still smiling, “But we figured it out,” He looks at Zayn imploringly, “We know what we want.”

“We do?” Zayn still can’t quite believe any of this is actually happening. Niall nods before holding out his hand, Zayn takes it without hesitation and gets guided out of the door and into the night.

“Have fun!” His mum calls out of the door, laughing.

“Home by 11, don’t you worry!” Niall shouts back.

There’s a slick black limo at the end of the drive, and Niall opens the back door before Zayn has the chance, gesturing for him to go in first. The boy runs round the other side and climbs in, throwing a smile Zayn’s way before looking forward.

“Ready to go, Brian.” He tells the driver, who promptly pulls away from the curb and starts its way to the school.

They drive in silence for a while, only their breathing and Zayn’s rapidly beating heart audible in the silence of the car.

“So,” Zayn eventually breaks the silence, “I feel like I need an explanation.”

“Oh!” Niall smacks himself in the forehead and laughs, “Yeah, I forgot about that.” His laughter dies out quickly and he sighs before turning to Zayn with one of the most serious expressions he has seen on the other boy, “You know how I told you I was still figuring myself out?” Zayn nods, “Well, I was still doing that when I started falling for you. Like, it was horrible because I didn’t know what I wanted in general, but I knew for sure I wanted you.” He takes in a breath and looks away, staring forward before continuing, “When we were in my bedroom, I just- I lost my bearings a bit. I kissed you on instinct and it- it overwhelmed me.” He rubs a hand over his face warily, “I was getting my feelings confused so I took it out on you and I’m sorry for that. I’m also sorry for ignoring you for the last week, but I needed time to myself. I needed to figure out who I was and what I wanted.”

“Did you?” Zayn asks hesitantly.

“Yes,” Niall nods, looking at Zayn again with a light in his eyes, “I want you. All of you. I don’t care that you’re I boy and it’s not scary to me anymore that we have the same… bits. Like, I still like girls and boobs are amazing, but I like boys too,” Niall laughs slightly, “And that’s okay. That’s just who I am.”

“So what do you want to do now?” Zayn purses his lips, heart ready to burst.

“I want to try,” Niall searches his eyes, “I want to go to prom, have a great night, go on dates, the whole thing. I want to be with you.”

“Good.”

“Good?” Niall snorts, “That’s all I get?”

“I like you too,” Zayn complies, “Have done for ages, actually.”

“How long?” Niall looks positively gleeful.

“A good few months.” Zayn admits, grimacing.

“That’s adorable!” Niall coos.

“Shut up.”

“Make me.” Niall waggles his eyebrows and now that Zayn knows he’s allowed, he pulls Niall into a bruising kiss.

They arrive 10 minutes later, wiping their mouths and giggling as they get out of the car to have their pictures taken. There’s a red carpet and everything at the entrance, something Harry had insisted on so he could feel like a celebrity. Zayn wraps his arm around Niall’s waist as they smile for the teacher in front of them, then they walk in and get passed a sparkling drink with different layers of colour in a champagne glass.

“Lads!” Louis greets them, skipping across from the other side of the room, hand entwined with Harry’s. He’s wearing a green tie, and Harry is wearing blue. They’re so bloody sappy it makes Zayn sick.

“I like your matching ties.” Harry smiles, gesturing at them with his glass. His hair is just as messy as ever, but he looks like he at least combed through it for the occasion. Louis’, however, is artfully styled into a messy fringe. He’ll take any excuse to get made up.

“I like your-” Niall frowns in confusion, “Not matching ties.”

“Oh,” Louis lights up at being able to explain, “I’m wearing the colour of Harry’s eyes-”

“And I’m wearing the colour of Louis’ baby blues.” They turn to look at each other press their lips together before Louis pulls a face at the taller boy which sends him into fits of giggles.

“If only this had alcohol in it,” Niall holds up his glass and narrows his eyes at the liquid in it, “We’re going to have to deal with this all night.”

“I think it’s cute.” Zayn shrugs.

“Yeah,” Niall rolls his eyes, “It’s cute, but it also makes me feel like I’ll never have a love as amazing as theirs.”

“We can try.” Zayn smiles, pulling Niall away from the couple so they can go into the main hall.

It’s gorgeous. It’s everything Zayn imagined and more. The fairs lights hung from the beams near the ceiling sparkle like stars and the dancefloor looks like it has paint splatters on it, changing colours to the beat of the music. There are a few paintings hung up around the room, two or three being Zayn’s own. One is of the other four boys of the group, laughing in a huddle on the football field, whereas the other two are just of landscapes Zayn had pictures of in his room.

“Oh!” Niall exclaims, biting his lip and nodding his head, “This is my fuckin’ jam!”

Zayn breaks out of his reverie and tunes into what is playing.

“Justin Bieber, Niall.” Zayn raises an eyebrow, “Really?”

“Dance with me!” Niall pulls him onto the dancefloor and starts dancing dramatically, doing the sprinkler.

“That is awful.” Zayn feels a little awkward stood on the dancefloor with people dancing around him. He doesn’t dance, he never really has.

“Come on,” Niall whines with a shimmy, “Live a little.”

“I don’t dance.”

“Not even the robot?” Niall starts moving his arms mechanically and laughs at Zayn’s affronted expression. He holds his left arm out to the side, hanging his forearm down. He hits it and taps himself on the head before going cross-eyed and letting his arm fall back down.

“You’re an idiot.” Zayn smiles as Niall moves on to pretending he’s going underwater.

“And you’re a killjoy,” It sounds kind of nasally because he’s holding his nose, “If you don’t dance with me I’ll just get more embarrassing.”

“How could you get _more_ embarrassing?” Zayn laughs, watching Niall do the Macarena completely out of the time to the music.

“So easily,” Niall purses his lips, “So you should dance with me.”

“I can only do one dance move.” Zayn shuffles on his feet.

“Yeah?” Niall stops dancing for a moment to look at Zayn with raised eyebrows, “What is it?”

“The worm.”

“Oh my god!” Niall squeals, “Do it!”

“There isn’t really enough room.”

“Hey!” Niall shouts, “Everyone! Get out of the way, my date wants to do the worm!” Everyone immediately creates a circle around Niall and Zayn, going quiet with anticipation.

“Niall,” Zayn’s eyes widen, all of the attention on him, “I can’t.”

“Oh,” Niall looks around, “Oh! Nevermind guys, we’re going to take it outside.”

The crowd boos a bit but Zayn doesn’t really hear much of it because Niall is already leading him out of the room and into the corridor.

“Thanks.” Zayn mutters, rubbing a hand through his hair.

“I didn’t think,” Niall shakes his head, “You have that whole socialisation thing.”

“It’s fine. I’ll show you the worm another time,” He takes in a breath and looks through the door window to watch the dancefloor, “Now let’s go dance.”

“You sure?” Niall asks hesitantly, pursing his lips.

“Absolutely.”

They dance for hours, only taking breaks to go to the food room so they can have burgers and doughnuts. It’s the most fun Zayn has had in a long time and he doesn’t think it would’ve been the same without Niall by his side.

They meet up with the rest of the boys at one point, Liam having left Sophia for a bit because she wanted to go see her friends.

“So you sorted your shit out?” Liam raises his eyebrows with a small smile.

“They did! And we helped!” Harry grins, dimples and everything.

“You what?” Zayn frowns, looking to Niall who’s fish mouthing.

“Yeah, they gave me their limo.” Niall grimaces, “So I could ‘woo you’.”

“We rode here on bikes.” Louis smiles, throwing an arm over Harry’s shoulder as he laughs.

“It hurt my crotch, but it’s all for true love.” Harry quickly squirms away when Louis tries to ruffle his hair, and they end up caught in a tickle fight a few steps away from the rest of them.

“That was cool of them,” Zayn raises an eyebrow, “It’ll be interesting to see them try ride home while drunk.”

“Why would they be drunk?” Liam frowns, “There’s not alcohol here.”

“Isn’t there?” Zayn tilts his head, pulling a flask out of his pocket.

“Nice.” Niall smiles, holding out his cup so Zayn can pour some vodka into it.

“Rebelious, Zayn,” Louis and Harry join them again, and Louis flicks his fringe away from his forehead, “Didn’t think you had it in you.”

“You thought wrong.” Zayn pours some into Liam’s cup when he holds it out.

“Liam!” Harry gasps, “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Liam laughs.

“But you’re sweet and innocent, you can’t have alcohol.” Louis frowns, “I didn’t raise you that way.”

“I’m not a nun.” Liam rolls his eyes and takes a swig, not even flinching despite there having been nothing in his cup before Zayn poured some vodka in.

“You learn something new every day.” Niall pulls an approving face.

“He has so many layers,” Harry clicks his fingers, “Like an onion!”

“Oh, Haz.” Louis rolls his eyes fondly.

They all go to sign their names on the canvas in the drama room around the corner, and even though Miss Thompson is there, Louis and Harry manage to get crude sketches of each other’s penises next to their names (“We are artistes.” “The artistiest.”). Zayn draws a little caricature of Niall next to the boy’s name, and gets a kiss on the cheek in response, along with a little heart next to his own name (“’Cause you stole my heart.” “Sap.”).

Then they go to the photo booth and pose like the scream, Mona Lisa, even sunflowers. All the while they’re laughing like children and randomly getting into wrestling matches over who gets to be in the middle for each photo.

There’s a professional photographer too, so they decide to go there as well. They’re told to pose however they want, so of course Louis and Harry pose like their on the Titanic, then Niall laughs and puts an arm round Zayn’s shoulder before lifting his leg up so Zayn is forced to hold it in the pose. Liam looks at them fondly and just stands in the middle, doing a dramatic shrug as the woman snaps a photo. They decide to get a few nice ones after that, just standing in a line with their arms around each other’s shoulders.

Then they do some of just the couples (“I’m so lonely.” Liam sighs, obviously wishing he could find Sophia whom he hasn’t been able to get a hold of since leaving her to see friends.) , Louis and Harry looking sickeningly adorable as they stare into each other’s eyes in front of the camera. Zayn and Niall go up next and stand side by side with Zayn’s arm around the boy’s waist, and his arm around Zayn’s shoulders. At the last minute, Niall smacks a kiss on his cheek and the flash goes off. When they see the photos at the end, Zayn can only describe his expression as completely love struck.

Before Zayn knows it, it’s the last song of the night. He should’ve guess that Niall had fixed it, meaning the starting chords of ‘All About Us’ start playing out in the hall.

“The perfect song for the perfect dance.” Niall grins as he takes Zayn’s hand and makes his way onto the dancefloor.

“I apologise in advance if I step on your foot.” Zayn watches his feet as they start to move, his hands on Niall’s waist and the other boy’s arms wrapped around his shoulders, hands connected at the back.

“I don’t mind,” Niall shrugs, “Just glad I have you here.”

“Me too.” Zayn rests his head on top of Niall’s when he rests it on Zayn’s collar bone. As they sway to the beat of the song, Zayn casts his eyes around the room, trying to find the other boys.

Harry and Louis are whispering to each other as they dance, smiling and giggling at whatever the other is saying. Liam managed to find Sophia, they’re dancing slowly, smiling at each other, still uncertain as to where they stand in their relationship.

In that moment, Zayn is so glad he accidentally left that sketch on the bleachers.

When he and the rest of the boys go to McDonalds after prom is over, and Niall sits close, his elbow brushing Zayn’s every so often, smiling at him whenever it does, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here.

“We only have this summer to spend all our time together.” Niall points out, resting his head on Zayn’s shoulder.

“We have forever to be together, though.”

“I wish we could go somewhere where it was just the two of us.” Niall sighs, staring ahead at the growing queue of people in suits and dresses.

“I’ll paint us a kingdom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :) I might write an epilogue at some point with a date or something. Let me know if you want that or what you think!
> 
> Visit me on tumblr- girlsf0rgirls


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